215 backers

56 days

Project by

Jo Bell is a well-known poetry advocate whose previous projects include Bugged, a mass eavesdropping project which produced a book of fine poems and short stories in 2010. Formerly the director of the UK's National Poetry Day she is now the Canal Laureate, appointed by the Poetry Society and CRT - and has a new mass project for 2015 involving the Magna Carta.

New stretch target

We have passed not only our original target of £3.5k but our stretch target of £5.2k and will continue to take donations for the remainder of the timeline. The extra money will NOT be squandered on wine and loose women - it will pay fees for guest poets including two new ones for the second book; administrative support for tracking down poem permissions; and publicity and marketing (including travel).

Those of you expecting mystery books in the post - they have all been sent out as of mid-February - but if you donate after that date, yours will arrive with you at the end of the month. Those of you who need to arrange a tutorial - I'll be in touch soon and if not, hunt me down at jo@jobell.org.uk. The tutorial is supposed to be in Birmingham but I will also be in London and Manchester in the next couple of months so it might be possible to meet there! THANK YOU all so much.

"Write a poem a week. Start now. Keep going." The 52 project began on New Year's Day 2014. It was a year-long experiment in using new media intelligently to raise the game of British poets. Thousands of people wrote from the weekly prompts on our blog www.fiftytwopoetry.wordpress.com. 540 people joined a closed Facebook group to discuss and refine their poems. The reach of the project was global. 69,000 site visits and tens of thousands of poems later we have won prizes, been widely published and over-running the best poetry publications in the UK and elsewhere. Now we step offline and into the real world, with two hard copy books. For £10 you can read an anthology bringing together 52 of the very best poems from this starry group. Donate more than that, and you're helping to make our weekly writing prompts into a chunky workbook, for release in late 2015. The workbook will include all the prompts from British poet Jo Bell, the begetter of 52 - and (if they're willing) from guest poets including David Morley, Philip Gross and Kate Noakes. We want this book to thrive so that anyone can start to write a poem a week, with lively and well-informed guidance and great poems to illustrate each task. Your first £10 goes directly to the cost of producing the smaller book and sending it to you (the £10 donation has slipped to the bottom of the list, right). Any further donation makes possible the larger workbook, with its hefty fees for reproducing poems (see the video) and payment for the people who chase them up.Rewards include a copy of the anthology for everyone who gives, plus mystery books delivered to your door, and even (for the truly generous donor) a one-to-one tutorial with the doyenne of 52!

Rewards

Get £10 reward

A COPY OF THE 52 ANTHOLOGY, delivered to your UK address in late spring 2015. This is a souvenir of the project including 52 of the very best poems selected by editor Jonathan Davidson, from the tens of thousands produced. Foreword by Jo Bell and Norman Hadley.

NOTE: £10 gets you one copy. £20 doesn't get you two copies - the rest of your contribution goes into the pot for producing our other book. If you want a second, third or fifteenth copy of the anthology, you will be able to order them via print-on-demand - details later.

2 backers so far

Estimated delivery: April 2015

Get £20 reward

Even more eternal gratitude. Also:
A COPY OF THE 52 ANTHOLOGY, as described above, delivered to your UK address in late spring '15.
A CARD INCLUDING A POEM OF JO'S CHOOSING.
You will also be contributing to the cost of producing Jo Bell's own 52 book. This will contain all the 52 exercises used in the now-famous blog including guest poets Philip Gross, David Morley and many others - plus examples of the renowned poems with which the prompts were illustrated. The book will be both a workbook and an anthology with a wealth of contemporary and classic poems.

Please note: a £20 donation doesn't get you two copies of the anthology, just the one - but you can order further copies from our print-on-demand supplier. Details of how to do so, closer to the time of publication.

76 backers so far

Estimated delivery: April 2015

Get £30 reward

Eternal gratitude as described above. Also:
A MYSTERY POETRY BOOK of Jo's choice delivered in the UK in January - anything from Seamus Heaney to Ian McMillan, Matt Merritt to Ruth Padel.
A COPY OF THE 52 ANTHOLOGY delivered to you in late spring '15.
And you'll be contributing to the cost of the 52 workbook.

Note: £30 doesn't get you three copies of the anthology, just the one: but if you want them, you'll be able to order further copies closer to the publication date!

28 backers so far

Estimated delivery: April 2015

Get £50 reward

Almost immeasurable quantities of gratitude plus:
A MYSTERY POETRY BOOK chosen by Jo Bell, delivered to your UK address in January '15.
A COPY OF THE 52 ANTHOLOGY, delivered to your UK address in late spring '15.
YOUR NAME IN THE 52 WORKBOOK as a supporter, because this donation provides very real support to make it happen.

38 backers so far

Get £100 reward

Gratitude, oh such gratitude. You may chortle but this gratitude is very real. And so are:
A COPY OF THE 52 ANTHOLOGY delivered to your UK address in late spring '15.
TWO MYSTERY POETRY TITLES, delivered likewise in January '15.
YOUR NAME IN THE 52 WORKBOOK as a supporter.

5 backers so far

Estimated delivery: April 2015

Get £200 reward

Oh, the gratitude, the gratitude. And a one-to one tutorial to boot. You'll get:
A COPY OF THE 52 ANTHOLOGY AND A SIGNED COPY OF JO'S OWN NEW BOOK, to a UK address in April 2015.
TWO MYSTERY POETRY TITLES in January 2015.
YOUR NAME IN THE 52 WORKBOOK as a supporter.
A ONE-TO-ONE WORKDAY WITH JO in spring or summer 2015 to discuss and workshop six of your poems, including lunch and all the bossy critiquing you can eat - in Birmingham (other locations may be possible!)

10 backers so far

Estimated delivery: April 2015

Get £10 reward

My eternal gratitude - and:
A COPY OF THE 52 ANTHOLOGY including postage to a UK address, to be delivered in late spring 2015.